In the field of skateboarding on ice, there is a need for providing an ice skateboard, or iceboard, which has runner mounts permitting the runners to move with respect to the board to give the rider the flexibility and freedom of motion to perform the various feats which are popular among skateboarders, while providing the rider with close control over the iceboard and avoiding the type of excessive pitching which would cause the rider to fall.
It is a problem with existing skateboards designed for ice, that they provide no relative movement between the runners and the board which would allow the rider to do various tricks, while maintaining the runners in contact with the ice. Other problems with existing skateboards are that they fail to provide the rider with a cushioned ride, or the blades are such that they fail to track positively on the ice, or the blades are not conveniently sharpenable, or all three.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,913 to Newell et al discloses a skateboard having front and rear pairs of narrow runners or blades in which the edges on one of the pairs are less sharp than the edges on the other pair, so that one end of the board slides relative to the other. In addition, the Newell et al patent discloses blades having limited movement about a horizontal axis, but discloses no mechanism for preventing excessive pitching so that, for example, the nose of the board is prevented from engaging the ice and stopping the board, thereby spilling the rider.